Flutter by

There is always something wonderful about seeing the first butterfly of the season so when I saw a small flash of orange flash by, I kept it in sight.  Of course, being a butterfly, it flew in seemingly random patterns, causing me to swivel my head around like someone having a seizure of some sort.  However, if finally landed on the cherry tree where the first blossoms are opening - my lucky day.

This is an Eastern Comma, a small butterfly in the True Brushfoot family and in a smaller group often referred to by "butterfliers" as angle wings.  It is under 2 inches across at the widest point and when it's wings are folded, all you see (or not) is the plain brown underwing which resembles nothing so much as tree bark.  An ingenious way to avoid predators actually.  

This afternoon after lunch, I took Jax for a walk at the park on a trail I've not had him on before.  He was in major sniffing mode so it became more of a snifari than a walk.  Happily, we didn't see any other dogs and the few humans we saw didn't excite him overly.  I did run into three birder friends there so we stood about a chatted for a while while Jax laid calmly on the trail.  He's now sacked out on the futon in my office.  

We gave him a sedative before dinner last night (vet prescribed) hoping to be able to trim is front nails.  And although he could barely stand up without teetering, he was having no part of nail trimming.  So, I guess we are going to have to pay to have the vet do it which will probably need to be done under sedation.  Maybe over time we can desensitize him - we'll see.

The weather here is glorious and expected to stay that way most of the week.  On the flip side, my parents had a dusting of snow on the ground in Beaverton this morning - crazy!

I think it will be dark with cherries and almonds today...

xo
Debbi